THE DEUTSCH DRAHTHAAR
AND GERMAN WIREHAIRED
POINTER
ARE THEY REALLY TWO
DIFFERENT BREEDS?
by Jill Manring
This question has been
asked ever since the
American Kennel Club (AKC)
began registering the
Deutsch drahthaar as a
German wirehaired
pointer (GWP) in the
later 1950's. In my
opinion, I believe the
question can be examined
from two different
perspectives:
genetically and from a
breeder’s viewpoint. As
a breeder of German
registered Deutsch
drahthaars, I would like
to take this opportunity to provide
my thoughts on why
the Deutsch drahthaar
and the GWP are two
distinct breeds within
the canine world. I will
point out what I
consider to be
significant differences
between the two
concerning their
respective registries
and breed standards. It
is not my intent to make
any value judgments. I am
just providing
my observations and
opinions.
I
produce Deutsch
drahthaars under the
German registered kennel
name of vom Wildflugel
Kennel. I have made a
conscience decision
to follow a strict set
of breeding and testing
regulations. My dogs are
registered as Deutsch
drahthaars. This is what
appears on the
registration paper (Ahnentafel)
and how I advertise
them. Other individuals
have decided that the
VDD organization is not
for them and chose to follow a
different path. They
breed GWP and register
their dogs with either the AKC,
North American Versatile
Hunting Dog Association
(NAVHDA), or Field Stud
Dog Book (FSDB). I
believe the VDD breeding
and testing regulations
have taken the drahthaar
in a different direction
from the GWP.
Many GWP
breeders state that if
you trace a GWP’s
pedigree back far enough
you will find German
registered Deutsch drahthaars. I
would venture to guess
that DNA testing would
show no genetic
differences between VDD registered
drahthaars and GWP
produced from well-known
U.S. kennels. To my knowledge
there is no way to
genetically
differentiate between GWP and drahthaars,
so
in the absence of any
scientific data I will
concede that there is no
genetic difference
between the two. Given
this I feel the issue
should be looked at from
the breeder’s point of
view.
The
versatile hunting dog
concept was first
envisioned by the German
hunter during the early
1800's. The
Deutsch drahthaar was
developed by Germans who
wanted a pointer, a
retriever that worked
equally well on land and
in the water, a tracker,
a flusher, and a dog
aggressive enough to
bring down wounded game.
The Deutsch drahthaar
was
mentally and physically
tough, but calm mannered
to protect a family and
their property. These
breeders were
idealists who believed
that by selecting the
best brood stock from stichelhaar,
pudelpointer, griffon,
and Deutsch kurzhaar
breeders, the progeny
produced would have to
be the best.
The Verein
Deutsch Drahthaar, e.V.
(VDD) breeding
organization was established in
1902 by a handful of
devoted and determined
breeders who had
complete faith in their
objective. Under
the leadership of Alex Lauff, the first
president of the VDD
(who remained in office
for more than twenty
years) the drahthaar
movement continued to
grow. As the VDD grew
and became stronger, the
breeding program was
developed and
supervised. The breeding regulations
were rigid and
demanding.
At this
same time Sigismund
Freiherr vom Zedlitz und
Neukirch, better known
as Hegewald, was
becoming involved with
drahthaars. Hegewald is
known as the father of
the German utility
hunting dog performance
breeding test. He wrote
many books and articles
on the value and use of
a utility hunting dog.
His works became the
foundation of the
hunting dog movement in
Germany. Hegewald paved
the way for the test
structure that is still
used today in Germany
and the VDD. The first
HZP (fall breed test)
was conducted in 1920
and was initiated
exclusively through
Hegewald’s efforts.
Unfortunately, versatile
hunting dog testing in
Germany was halted from
1940 through 1949 due to
World War II.
The
Jagdgebrauchshund-Verband
e.V. (JGHV) is the
umbrella organization in
Germany for all
versatile hunting dogs.
It provides the test
regulations, authorizes
the judges, and
maintains the test
records for member breed
clubs, including VDD.
So
as you
can see the testing and
breed regulations go
back a long way and are
an integral part of
making the VDD drahthaar
what it is today. In the
early 1970's a subgroup
of the VDD known as
Group North America
(VDD-GNA) was
established in the
United States. This
group of dedicated
breeders conform to the
strict VDD breed
standards and testing
program that was
developed by the parent
organization in Germany.
Deutsch
drahthaars are required
to meet these strict
formal breed standards
before
they can be certified
for breeding purposes.
These standards include
coat, conformation,
field performance, and
an evaluation of gun
sensitivity in the field
and in the water. There
have been minor
adjustments to the
breeding and testing
regulations over the
history of the
drahthaar, but they are
basically the same today
as those developed in
the early 1900's. Since the
turn of the century the
drahthaar breed has been
selectively bred with
the specific aim of
obtaining an assertive
and efficient working
rough-coated German
versatile gundog.
The AKC is
the all-breed registry
for purebred dogs in the
United States and the
governing body for AKC-sponsored dog events,
i.e. dog shows, field
trials, hunts tests,
etc. The GWPCA sets the
breed standard for the
GWP in the United
States. The only
requirement an AKC GWP
must meet in order to be
used for breeding is
that each parent be a
purebred representative
of the breed and either
be registered with the AKC or a recognized
import from a foreign
registry. While the AKC
and GWPCA encourage and
promote good breeding
practices, there are no
disqualifying faults
that would prevent an
AKC German wirehaired
pointer from being bred
and registered. Neither
of these two
organizations has the
authority to remove any
dog from a breeding
program, it is up to the
breeders and it is
strictly voluntary. On
the other hand, the VDD
will not certify any
drahthaar for breeding
purposes that has a
hereditary fault, i.e. underbite, overbite,
missing incisors, fangs,
or molars, missing or
anomalies in the male
sex organs, natural
bobbed or crooked tail,
light nose, glass eyes,
etc., or that is not
mentally or physically
sound.
Many individuals trial
their GWP in NSTRA,
NAVHDA, and/or AKC
sponsored events, they do
so voluntarily. Some of
these same GWP also
compete in bench shows.
While this information
can and is used by many
AKC breeders to develop
quality breeding
programs, it is my
opinion that many
breeders have absolutely
no testing data on their
brood stock or
offspring. Furthermore,
many breeders are not
familiar with the GWP
breed standards to
objectively evaluate
their dogs’ coat and
conformation. Often
subjective
breeding decisions are
made based on hunting
ability of the parents
alone, sometimes at the
expense of conformation
and coat. As previously
stated, the VDD requires
drahthaars to
successfully pass a
field performance
evaluation, gun
sensitivity tests in the
field and in the water,
and pass a coat and
conformation evaluation
prior to being used for
breeding.
The
Federation Cynologique
Internationale (FCI) is
the World Canine
Organization which
includes 80 members. The FCI recognizes
339 canine breeds, each
breed is owned by one
member country and that
owner country writes the
standard for the breed.
Germany is the owner
country for the Deutsch
drahthaar and the VDD
writes and maintains the
breed standards.
The coat
lengths on Deutsch
drahthaars are shorter
and more consistent than
on their GWP
counterparts. The book
titled German
Wirehaired Pointers
by Compere contains
pictures of German
wirehaired pointers with
coat lengths in excess
of 7 cm.
The VDD
registers three coat
colors: braunschimmel
(brown and white roan),
braun (solid brown with
or without white on the
chest), and
schwarzschimmel (black
and white roan). Any
other color is not
permitted. The GWP breed
standards list
liver and white in
combination with ticking
and solid liver. Any
black in the coat is to
be severely penalized.
The AKC permits white
coated dogs with minimal
liver on the body while
this color does not
appear within the
Deutsch drahthaar breed.
Shwarzschimmel dogs
cannot compete in AKC
breed shows, although
they are permitted to
compete in obedience,
fun trials, agility
trials, etc.
Schwarzschimmel colored
coats account for
approximately 14 percent
of the VDD registered
drahthaars.
There
are several phenotypical
(physical) differences
between the Deutsch
drahthaars and GWP. In
essence, a VDD
registered Deutsch
drahthaar import can be
registered with the AKC.
However, an AKC
registered GWP cannot be
registered with the VDD.
In
summary, while from a
genetic standpoint, GWP
and drahthaars are the
same, I strongly believe
that when the AKC began
registering drahthaars
as GWP they became two
different distinct
breeds. American
GWP breeders no longer
follow the rigid testing
and breed certification
program, comply with the
strict VDD breeding
regulations, or produce
drahthaars that meet the
original breed standards
as developed by the
founding organization.
U.S. breeders have
"Americanized" the GWP
for bench and field
purposes. One only needs
to look at the breed
standards and physical
specimens of GWP and
Deutsch drahthaars to
see these differences.